Plandome Manor is the only village in Manhasset holding contested elections on Wednesday, March 18.
Trustees Patricia O’Neill and Peter Kulka are facing challenges from the Community First ticket with Eric Kattan and Sanaz Sadjadi Armstrong on the ballot.
O’Neill has served as a trustee for over 10 years, and this is Kulka’s first election after he was appointed to fill a vacancy following his service on the design review board for over 15 years.
Both trustees said Kattan and Sadjadi Armstrong challenged their petitions to be on the ballot, and the matter was brought up to the County Board of Elections, where they were given three days to make simple fixes, such as numbering their petition pages. Some signatories were also not registered to vote in the village
“We found it very peculiar that our petitions were challenged,” Kulka said. “Every detail was scrutinized and brought up to the County Board of Elections for review.”
Attempts to speak with Kattan and Sadjadi Armstrong have been unavailing, but their website provides statements detailing their biographies and what they plan to do in office.
Sadjadi Armstrong’s bio reads, “She is a mother of three elementary schoolchildren and spent 12 years serving New York City families as a teacher and school administrator.”
Kattan “is a father of two elementary schoolchildren. A financial executive with over 25 years of experience, Eric has led operations and technology initiatives across several complex industries.”
O’Neill said her experience as an architect has been a helpful background working in village politics, where much of the job revolves around housing. Kulka, who works in real estate, said his expertise similarly helped him in his role as trustee.
The challengers also called for increased transparency and updates to local infrastructure.
“Many residents have expressed concerns about the condition of our local infrastructure. Issues such as insufficient sidewalks and overall pedestrian safety deserve focused attention,” the challengers’ website reads.
O’Neill, on the other hand, touted updates to infrastructure as one of the board’s key accomplishments in her time.
“I’m proud to have contributed to securing over $2.5 million in grant funding for vital capital projects,” O’Neill said.
She highlighted road improvement, converting street lighting to LED, replacing signs with state-standard reflective signs, and rebuilding the Leeds Pond culvert with assistance from the Town of North Hempstead.
“We’ve done a lot,” she said.
Kulka said he was looking forward to adding crosswalks if he were re-elected, and O’Neill said the village had just secured grant money to widen a turn on Plandome Road, which she was looking to work on.
Kattan has attended board meetings to voice concerns over Circle Drive, the road on which he lives, being used for drop-offs and pick-ups at the Plandome Long Island Rail Road station.
“Eric is upset about parking enforcement,” O’Neill said.
The board hired a code enforcement officer to monitor the area. “We’ve been trying to work with him,” she said.
“It’s a hard situation to do something about,” Kulka said, since Kattan lives right next to the LIRR.
“If this is the biggest problem that can possibly exist, then I think we have a great village.”
In the Village of Plandome, three trustees are up for election to two-year terms on Tuesday, March 17, with no challengers registered.
Rich Dunphy, who has lived in the village since 2012, was appointed in October to fill a vacancy and said he was excited to take on a challenge.
“The learning curve is steep,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to have the backing of a board that wants me to succeed.”
Robert Broderick, who has worked as an eye surgeon for 50 years, said he has been involved in local politics for about 10 years and is now running for his fourth term as trustee.
Broderick, at 76, said this will likely be his last term.
“I think that you want to have a good succession line,” he said. “You want to make sure that you’re bringing in guys that are similar to us—love the village, have been here for a long time, and are not looking for any self-aggrandizement.”
Trustee James Corcoran, who has lived in Plandome for 50 years and works as a lawyer, said he is close with the board members. He even knew many of their fathers, he said.
Corcoran said he was proud of the village’s involvement in repaving the parking lot at the main train station and that the village maintains the road well.
“We’re on top of things when it comes to potholes,” he said.
In Munsey Park, trustees Greg LiCalzi and Regina Im are running for re-election to two-year terms on Wednesday, March 18.
LiCalzi said he moved into the village around nine years ago and became involved in local politics after poor road conditions injured his daughter.
“The roads were not in the best condition, and my two-year-old tripped in the road and popped a tooth out,” LiCalzi said, and the trustees encouraged him to run for trustee.
LiCalzi said he was proud of renovating all of the worst roads in Munsey Park, eventually including his own.
“It was a good investment in the village,” he said.
Attempts to reach Im were unavailing.
In the Village of Plandome Heights, Mayor Kenneth C. Riscica, Trustee Eric Carlson, Trustee Mary Hauck, and Trustee Kristina Lobosco are running for re-election to two-year terms on Wednesday, March 18, and each submitted a candidate statement.
Riscica, a certified public accountant, wrote, “I was elected trustee in 2008 after my neighbors asked me to apply my business experience to the Village. Within two years, we turned deficits into a surplus. Then we cut taxes 15% and didn’t raise them for two more years.”
The mayor also touted paving “over 75% of our roads nearly $100,000 less than the projected cost of $600,000,” “aggressively raised over $450,000 in grant and other outside money to fund the roads,” and planting “15 new trees this year on the Village right-of-way.”
Carlson said he has lived in Plandome Heights his whole life and said, “With my 25+ years in all aspects of the real estate industry, I look forward to optimizing a solution to our future occupancy needs, and in furthering the Village’s demonstrable success in prudent financial management and budgeting.”
Hauck, a retired teacher, wrote, “I am fully engaged in all board matters, including budgeting in an inflationary environment and working toward creative solutions.”
Lobosco, a technology executive, wrote, “Because of our success with our roads, and the preservation of our Treasury through extensive grants and cost control, we have the means for the first time to make investments in the Village’s future, which included digitizing building records.”
“Importantly, I was part of our Village effort to oppose the Housing Plan to eliminate our single-family lifestyle,” she said.
In Flower Hill, Mayor Randall Rosenbaum, Trustee Gary Lewandowski, Trustee Claire Dorfman, and Trustee A.J. Smith are all running for re-election to two-year terms on Wednesday, March 18 as well.
Despite Plandome Manor’s contentious contested election, the majority of Manhasset village elections will see familiar faces running unopposed.
